I am a recent University of…

I am a recent University of Waterloo Master’s graduate who specialized in wetland ecology. I am disappointed to learn about the proposed changes to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System. The proposed changes make it harder for a wetland to be scored as provincially significant and it would allow for already designated PSWs to be re-evaluated, thus putting nearly all wetlands on a chopping block.

Reducing wetland protection is not a path we should be going down. Wetlands provide critical services and functions that directly benefit us, such as flood mitigation and water purification, as well as providing habitat for species, including many that are provincially and federally at-risk. When wetlands are not protected and subsequently removed from the landscape, cities may have to invest millions of dollars into projects such as water treatment facility upgrades and flood mitigation infrastructure that will provide the same functions/services that wetlands provide for free.

Wetlands are workhorses and key components in mitigating climate change. We cannot jeopardize them to support unaffordable urban sprawl.